George Lucas, Steven Spielberg among top billionaires

Filmmakers George Lucas and Steven Spielberg have been named among the world's richest billionaires by bosses at Forbes magazine.

Editors at the business publication annually rank the globe's most wealthy people, and this year Mexican telecommunications mogul Carlos Slim has topped the list with a net worth of US$73 billion (NZ$88.2 billion).

Businessman Bill Gates is the runner-up with US$67 billion and Spanish fashion executive Amancio Ortega is third with US$57 billion.